F1 breakaway threat: Bernie Ecclestone revelation on day of F1 strategy meeting
TWO of F1's team bosses met Bernie Ecclestone over the winter supposedly to discuss a rival series, it has been revealed.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Racing Point’s Lawrence Stroll met with Ecclestone in Switzerland during pre-season.
Former Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo also spoke to Ecclestone - who used to run F1 before selling up to Liberty Media.
It is claimed the meeting was held to discuss the possibility of a breakaway series.
But Racing Point have denied this.
I don't see anyone agreeing
The revelation from GPtoday comes as F1 prepares for today’s strategy meeting in London.
Teams and Liberty Media will sit down to thrash out plans for F1 after 2021.
And while a breakaway series does seem unlikely, Ecclestone admits the threat will give teams bargaining weight when negotiating with F1’s owners.
Ecclestone told GPtoday: "I don't think this will ever happen.
"I don't see anyone agreeing. They also have to get the promoters to get that far, because everyone has to agree.
"The problem with all of these things is that people talk, talk and talk.
“If after that the trigger has to be pulled, there is a large list of people missing.”
A Racing Point spokesperson told GPtoday: "There was a gathering of old friends who went to dinner in Gstaad. These suggestions from a rival class are nonsense."
Yet Ecclestone’s claims could well affect negotiations today when the F1 world descends on the capital.
Liberty Media are thrashing out what to do with F1 from 2021 onwards.
There will be a push to cap annual team budgets to £114m within three or four years, while there will be a revised revenue distribution.
Engine rules, technical rules and governance will all be discussed.
Liberty is facing a tricky period in charge of F1, with the issue of how to deal with one dominant team in Mercedes.
The Silver Arrows have won the last five F1 World Constructors’ Championships and their drivers - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg - taking the Drivers’ titles.
Ferrari and Red Bull were expected to push Mercedes hard this season - although evidence from the Australian Grand Prix, where Valtteri Bottas cruised to victory after of second-place Hamilton, suggests that may be a struggle.
Liberty wants F1 to avoid becoming a two-tier sport, where the biggest teams compete for race wins and the also-runs affectively act as advertising billboards.